At the park

Just some pics of the kids on recent park visits; Nathan being brave and doing the big slide by himself and Squeak in the tunnel.

Baby Steps

Squeaks has mastered crawling and has moved on to pulling up on everything. She's beginning to move her feet forward, too. I have a couple of short videos:

Kindergarten photos

Nathan's teacher just emailed me some photos from his first day. I love how happy he looks and I love that they took and sent photos! Just had to share them.

First day of school

I put my kindergartener on the bus this morning and picked him up 6 hours later. He was playing on a mini trampoline with an aide and looked very happy. I checked in with his teacher and heard he had a good day. As we walked out:
Me: "did you have fun?"
Nathan: "have fun!"

My kindergartener!

School starts tomorrow. Today we went for a meet and greet in Nathan's classroom. We reacquainted with the teacher and aides and met the speech therapist. Nathan will continue to work with the same physical therapist he worked with in preschool but will also have a new occupational therapist.

There are 5 students in the class, with a teacher and 2 1/2 aides, plus time spent with the various therapists, so Nathan will get plenty of attention. And he will start his inclusion time in the regular kindergarten after he's had a week to settle in.

Nathan seemed quite at home in the classroom, played with the toys, engaged with the adults (once he was able to move past fixation with new toys) and generally seemed happy to be there. He didn't really seem to want to leave but I assured him he gets to come back tomorrow on the bus.

7 Months!

Happy 7 month birthday to Miss Squeak. She has become a proficient crawler, is beginning to pull up on things, and occasionally random clear words come out of her mouth, often something her brother just said. We've heard "tag reader", "mama" and "cat". She's also ah-gooing and da-da-daing.
She continues to put everything in sight in her mouth and has the fine motor skills to pick up small objects. In other words, she's mobile and a danger to herself. ;)

In pursuit!

This baby is now very mobile and in hot pursuit of her brother, who is learning that "up" is the best way to escape her clutches.
He often escapes but other times stays and was willing to stay put and "watch" her for me this morning while I vacuumed (she is pretty entertained by his mere presence so all he needs to do is stay with her to keep her happy).
One thing is clear-- going up onto the furniture to get away won't work for too much longer!

Crawling!

Squeak is crawling! Took some video a few days ago. She is already more proficient than this.



She is up the step between the living room and dining room, and is interested in pulling up! She's desperately trying to figure out her brother's straw cups, and she's migrating around the house getting into trouble.

Field trip

I recently went on a field trip to the art center with Nathan's pre-k class from daycare. He wasn't in a great mood, and the visual arts are not really his thing, so I did not expect this to be a fantastic experience. Add in a baby who had not napped yet, and I was pretty much expecting it would be a disaster all up until lunchtime.

Nathan did not do great in the gallery, more interested in echoing and whining than in looking at art and materials. He could not be persuaded to sit in a circle to pass around plants and seeds or listen to a story. He did not want to try different fruits. He threw pine cones, sang Happy Birthday, generally was not participating in the activities with his peers.

All of this made me think about kindergarten, and about how Nathan does need a lot of extra help to engage and participate. Even with my help, he was present but not engaged, and at times was disruptive.

It was only 11 and I was thinking maybe we should break off from the group, play at the playground, do something less stressful until lunch, but then I heard that the next activity was a hip hop dance performance and I suspected Nathan would enjoy that. We stuck it out for the next 15 minutes until the performance.

Nathan very much enjoyed the music and dancing. After the short performance by children from a summer dance camp, the instructor got Nathan's class on stage to try out some dance moves. Nathan got up on stage, did a little dancing. He sat down for a bit but did get back up, danced (mostly his own dance), and high-fived the instructor. It's still hard for him to copy moves, but he was stomping (his attempt at jumping) when she said to jump, putting hands up when prompted, giving it a go, at least for a bit.

Life cannot be about only doing the fun parts and skipping the rest, but I think for Nathan the key is figuring out how to engage him in the stuff that is less fun and more challenging.

When Nathan starts kindergarten in a couple of weeks, he will be in a special day class most of the day. I hear a lot from other parents about the need for inclusion and the ways in which it benefits "our kids". I think, though, Nathan really needs someone who is skilled working to motivate him to do the non-fun stuff...which for him is much of the stuff! Watching his typical peers succeed with relative ease is NOT motivating for him. At the same time, there are those moments, like some if the moments up on stage with the hip hop dance instructor, where he does engage and does try. I want him to have access to those opportunities and to be able to be included with his peers, but I don't want him to be frustrated most of the day. I think he needs to experience a lot of success, to feel good about school, to feel competent. I'm hopeful that his kindergarten experience will be this way. And I think that it's going to take a special education environment and some really good people to help make that happen.